CD-1 Rezoning – 4339-4387 Cambie Street and 506 West 27th Avenue

Good morning, Marion Council. My name is Lauren Whitney, rezoning planner for this application being considered under the Canby Corridor Plan.

The site, in red, encompasses the block fronting the west side of Canby Street between West 27th and West 28th Avenues. The neighbourhood consists of a mix of single detached dwellings, townhouse developments and six-storey residential buildings. The area is undergoing change under the Canby Plan and transit-oriented areas rezoning policy. The site is currently developed with four single detached dwellings with four existing tenants. All existing tenancies are eligible under the tenant relocation and protection policy.

Under the official development plan, the site is identified as mixed-use mid-rise for buildings up to 12 stories.

The proposal is in the Queen Elizabeth neighborhood of the Canby Corridor plan, which considers redevelopment for residential buildings up to six stories and a density between 2 and 2.5 FSR. While the plan sets out policy for residential uses at this location, the 2024 Canby Corridor Commercial Demand Study identified a commercial use gap in this area, thereby permitting commercial in key locations.

The site is in Tier 2 of the King Edward Station TOA, which allows up to 12 stories and 4 FSR. TOA policy seeks to secure either secured market rental with below-market rental or strata with social housing. This proposal is offering a cash CAC in lieu of securing in-kind social housing. The TOA policy also allows for a negotiated approach to the CAC where project viability contemplates alternative housing outcomes. The density within the TOA was considered when determining the supportable density of the subject site while considering project viability.

The application proposes a nine-story mixed-use building with a density of 3.6 FSR. Their proposal includes 148 strata residential units and commercial space on the ground floor. THE HEIGHT AND DENSITY BEYOND THE PLANS ORIGINAL POLICY SUPPORT THE ADDITION OF COMMERCIAL AT GRADE AND THE RETENTION OF A SIGNIFICANT BEACH TREE IN THE FRONT YARD. 72 SUBMISSIONS WERE RECEIVED DURING THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION PERIOD. SUPPORT WAS EXPRESSED FOR NEW HOUSING AND DENSITY CLOSE TO TRANSIT, THE INCLUSION OF FAMILY SIZED UNITS, THE RENEWAL OF AGING PROPERTIES AND THE ADDITION OF COMMERCIAL SPACE ANIMATING THE STREET AND PROVIDING LOCAL RETAIL AND SERVICES. Some respondents felt that the height and density were inappropriate for the area. Staff support the increase in height and density to provide ground floor commercial and the tree retention, as well as note general alignment with the policy context for the area, which allows up to 12 stories. Some commenters expressed concern that the addition of commercial space will negatively impact the character of the neighborhood. Staff support the addition of commercial in response to the 2024 commercial demand study, which identified a commercial use gap in this area. Lastly, some respondents felt the commercial space will negatively impact traffic and safety. Staff note that this location is well-suited to reduce reliance on personal vehicles for transportation and is located 400 meters from the King Edward Sky train station. Additionally, the on-site parking for both residential and commercial uses has been conditioned per the parking bylaw.

The public benefits from this application include a cash CAC of $4 million, DCL contributions of $4.7 million, and a public art contribution of $280,000, with a combined value of almost $9 million.

In summary, staff have concluded that this proposal is generally in alignment with the Canby Corridor Plan and support the application subject to conditions in Appendix B. Staff and the applicant team are available for questions. Thank you.

yes if i may very briefly my name is michael geller i've been the planning consultant on this project for the last few years i'm joined today by yazi navidi an architect with floyd raffi and the developer maji charaka of aria pacific i think first of all we do want to thank the staff for their guidance throughout this process the only thing i would like to mention in light of the previous discussions that i've been listening to is that this project is indeed providing almost $9 million in public benefits. The other thing is we have modified the design to accommodate a significant tree. We did also modify the design to accommodate what we think will be good neighborhood retail, which reinforces the character of the street. The last thing I will mention, as was previously noted, there is a concern about the financial viability of a lot of these projects, including ownership projects. A term has been developed within the real estate community Projects that get approved and don't proceed are referred to as the ghost pipeline. And we are trying very hard to make sure that this project will indeed proceed, deliver almost $9 million in financial benefits, and not be part of the ghost pipeline. With that, we're pleased to answer any questions you might have.

And I see Templar right behind me. It might be coming out of a long weekend. I cannot remember the number off the top of my head, but it's several thousand. And if you give us just a few minutes, we'll try to get you the exact number. But it's in the thousands of unsold units.

Yeah, thank you for your question. The Canby Quarter Plan PBS envisions a number of different buckets that that $4 million could go toward. Areas that are currently still requiring progress would be child care and housing, as an example, as well as community spaces. So while we don't have anything identified specifically, those are three buckets that the Canby Quarter PBS has identified as requiring work.

And community spaces, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. I can speak specifically to the policy in this area. There is no below market housing option, social or BMR contemplated or required. But for the public benefit strategy as a whole, I'm going to hand that over to team.

Thanks, Councillor Fry. My name is Tina. I'm one of the senior planners. Yes, the Canby Corridor public benefit strategy does identify a range of housing options in terms of where cash allocation could go. We've got co-op housing, social housing, and as two examples, yes.

Do you mean the cash allocation in terms of where projects are realized?

It could. It could. CACs are intended to be in the location for which the development is within some close proximity in terms of an area plan. So we would like to see the cash CAC allocated towards the Canby Corridor area. However, there are opportunities to collect that money and maybe reallocate it to an area for which there possibly could be a bigger need.

Thank you for the time. As of December 2025, the Metro Vancouver unsold inventory for condominium strata was 3,800. 3,800. In Metro Van. Metro Van. Okay.

I don't have it on hand. This is, again, data from CMHC, and it was kind of aggregated in the metro perspective. It's hard to speculate exactly how much, but a percentage of that would be Vancouver.

My guess would be somewhere under a third of that, but below a third, but yeah.

A fair question. And so 3,800 on a metro-wide basis is not an insignificant number of unsold inventory. I can say from our Housing Vancouver strategy over 10 years, we've got, I think, 10,000 strata units, give or take. for that 10-year period, so call it 1,000 a year kind of thing. We've got at least that in our pipeline already for projects. I think at one point, I was looking at the numbers recently, there's about 30,000 rental units that have been approved, but we've got another 4,000 or 5,000 of strata units in the pipeline over large sites and major projects. They do take time to absorb and build out. So, you know, from a Vancouver perspective, having the right amount of supply is healthy for the industry and for the market to absorb to so that you don't get these, you know, excessive price escalations. But having that extent of unsold inventory and what's already approved in the pipeline is quite a robust amount of strata units in the pipeline already that's already been approved but not yet constructed.